Angel Flight Northeast’s 14th Annual Evening of Angels
- Details
- Published on Friday, 25 November 2011 14:34
- Written by Billy Cox
Changing Lives One Flight at a Time
WBZ-TV’s David Wade hosted the night as attendees enjoyed live music by Music Street, a sitdown dinner, took part in a silent auction and also heard from speakers including patients.
Keith D’Entremont serves as Angel Flight NE’s Corporate Development / Community Outreach director and was able to speak about the event. “Evening of Angels is our largest fundraiser as well as a way to have a lot of our sponsors who help us throughout the year sit down with AFNE staff and patients. We also take the opportunity to honor our pilots who have flown a certain number of flights.”
Among the awards and gifts given to the selfless pilots that night was a spectacular Pilot’s Watch donated by International Watch Company (IWC). These Pilot’s Watches will be given to pilots who have flown an exceptionally high volume of flights. There were also Crystal Awards given to honor pilots who have contributed large amounts of their time and effort.
“Angel Flight Northeast understands that trying to raise funds during a time when each and every American is under economic stress is difficult but reminds us on their website, “the challenges will only get worse for average families facing serious and significant health issues.”
To give an idea of how much work the people involved with AFNE do Keith noted, “We’re averaging about 100 flights a week so we’re really busy.” D’Entremont stressed that the many flights AFNE coordinates are only possible due to the help they receive from generous people. “We estimate that it takes about $300 worth of time and effort to get a flight into the air. To help with raising these funds, we have this Adopt a Flight program where people can adopt one flight or ten flights and they could do it in honor or in memory of someone or just out of the goodness of their heart.”
As AFNE’s list of sponsors grows so does their list of services. “Thanks to involvement of a larger airline like JetBlue we are able to provide services to 33 states in total” Keith explains, “This helps us, say, fly someone from Boston out to UCLA for a specific type of brain surgery.” He also spoke about how Hasbro, the toy company, aside from funds donated will give toys and stuffed animals to AFNE in order to keep children calm and entertained during flights on their way to receive medical care.
Angel Flight Northeast understands that trying to raise funds during a time when each and every American is under economic stress is difficult but reminds us on their website, “the challenges will only get worse for average families facing serious and significant health issues.” This very reasoning is what makes the Evening of Angels event such a bright spot. Not only did it say Thank You to the many people involved in this wonderful organization but it also is the event that raises the largest amount of money that will ultimately help families in dire need of assistance. Keith D’Entremont also added, “In no particular order I would like to thank our sponsors: IWC (International Watch Company), JetBlue, Cape Air, Colgan Air, Hasbro, WBZ-TV 4 Boston, EMC - Edgewater Technology, Polaris Capital Management, GECAS / (GE Capital Aviation Services), Conoco Philips, World Fuel Services, Winbrook Association and Reading Cooperative Bank.”
Add’l Info:
www.angelflightne.org
